Veterans Honored in Drama Club Evening Performance

by David Croyle

A Navy veteran saluted from the audience as the American Flag was displayed. A World War II veteran used his handkerchief to dry his eyes as the National Anthem was sung by student Brittany Byrd with superb passion and pitch to match.

Last night, on the eve of Veterans Day, the Elderton Junior-Senior High School Drama Club, Tri- M Music Honor Society, and the Senior High Concert Band presented two moving theatrical plays as well as various musical selections to approximately 160 people in attendance.

The program was outlined by drama club advisor/teacher Mrs. Janine Lazor.

“We are honoring the veterans in our community and our school faculty. We decided to do something a little different. No other school in the District does a fall play. We decided to make it a whole evening with all of the performing arts, music, and band, and make it a whole celebration of our Elderton family in celebration of our veterans,” Lazor said.

The evening was much more than a production for John Wissinger, 13, an eighth grader. “It means to me a lot because two of my grandfathers have served. I think doing this play for the veterans really shows them that we really appreciate them The play is in somehow respecting them and showing how much we are thankful for them.”

The first drama was “War Letters,” starring students Katie Jacobs, Tiffany Smietana, and Terra Cravener. The play centered around a mother, wife, and child who exchange letters with Soldier Jack. The family is then notified that Jack died in the war.

The second drama was “Memorial,” starring students Ashley Gaff, Garrett Clark, Ryan Sharp, Claire Smathers, and John Wissinger. The play takes place on Memorial Day, in the present, on a hillside overlooking the day’s festivities as the Conner family remembers their fallen soldier, Billy.

Both dramas honored veterans who have fallen and was excellently executed by a drama team that had little time to prepare.

“We’ve been working on the play for two months,” said Mrs. Lorelei Smathers, Physics/Science teacher and stage crew manager. “Mrs. Lazor is amazing. She was able to pull this together just in the last month and get everything organized. Mr. Pasko had the Band and Mrs. Stango had the Chorus and they have been working on this pretty much since the beginning of the year. It has been a vision of ours to make this a really nice production to coincide with our reopening to say ‘hey we’re back.’ This is what we want to do for the community.”

Gulf War U. S. Marine Veteran Richard Cravener, who was deployed in the early 90s securing the Kuwaiti International Airport and clearing mine fields, was in attendance and moved by the program.

“It was inviting and warming the fact the community comes together and honors the vets (and are) appreciative for what the veterans then and now are doing for the communities/country.”

Smathers, who worked diligently behind the scenes, confirmed the excitement of the students. “They are glad to be here performing for the veterans and for the community. They like doing this stuff. This is something we feel is really important for our students, for their educational development – getting them up on a stage in front of a large audience of people. It is a great experience for them to help them later in life to achieve their goals.”

Fourteen-year-old Freshman Ryan Sharp agreed. “We want to start a play up for veterans for everything they do for us cause its meaningful. We want to show them how much we love them by doing our drama.”

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1 Comment

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  By futureconcened, November 11, 2010 @ 5:41 PM

  Thank you to all that worked so hard to produce this lovely tribute to our country’s Veterans. We all owe our Veterans thanks and respect for their service.
  We are so proud of our students and faculty for displaying their many talents for us all to enjoy. Well done!

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